Crypto Scammers on Twitter Continue to Run Rampant

Social media platform Twitter has been a breeding ground for crypto-related “send X ETH, get XX back!” scams. According to the Ethereum Scam Database (EtherScamDB), a website that collects information about the scams, the ploys have now collectively garnered over 8,000 ETH — a sum equating to over $4 million USD. Is there a way to stop the shakedowns? Even with Twitter needing to act further, for now the first and best option is spreading awareness.

Twitter’s Yet Without an Effective Response

Over the past few months, Twitter has become a cradle for crypto scammers. Fraudsters masquerading as notable figures have been promising huge amounts of cryptocurrency in return for initial smaller donations of crypto from victims. The success these scammers have enjoyed has led to them spamming up virtually every notable cryptocurrency-related conversation on the platform in recent memory.

Ari wrote an interesting thread, but FYI, @twitter and @jack, my experience reading it was marred by all the spam accounts touting free ETH that made it harder for me to find the real discussion. https://t.co/ZRMYZs4XCj

Likewise, the quality of the user experience on the site has gone down the drain in crypto circles ever since, as crypto journalist and Unchained podcast host Laura Shin recently noted out of frustration:

Using the EtherScamDB database, John Backus, co-founder at Cognito — a company focused on identity verification — recently projected that almost $5 million worth of ether had been netted up by the scammers to date.

Frustration Is Mounting — What’s To Be Done?

Among the latest and unsurprising influential accounts to have been mirrored by bad actors on Twitter was ShapeShift CEO Erik Voorhees. Responding to Backus, the account-less digital asset exchange tweeted:

It is so frustrating to see how many of these scam accounts pop up. Thanks for staying vigilant, we do everything we can to get these shut down as soon as possible.

Until now the Ethereum Scam Database has registered +4,200 scam pages linking to 948 addresses used by fraudsters. At present, 681 scams are still active and need to be resolved. Cryptocurrencies are here to stay but so are these scams, so it seems, unless Twitter or someone else manages to do something about it. Meanwhile, crypto’s thought leaders and its everyday investors need to keep spreading awareness about the ploys.

Will crypto celebs migrate to a Twitter alternative? Share your views in the comments section.

About Akshay Makadiya

Akshay is a founder of RankLane, a Digital Marketing Agency. Being an SEO consultant he loves to write and speak on Digital Marketing, Cryptocurrency and Latest Technologies. Hit him up on Twitter @axymak for a quick chat.